Road Trip 2011: Authors at ALA

We recently drove to New Orleans (excuse me, N'Awlins) for the American Library Association Convention and for a family vacation. We had various reasons for attending the humongous ALA Convention. Bob was working at the Library of Congress booth. I was speaking with publishers and editors, meeting authors I'd long admired, seeing other authors who are friends of mine, and collecting free and almost-free books from the booths (many of them intended for the MVCS book swap).

Jon Morgan came as well. When he wasn't hanging out at some of the technology vendors, playing with a Wii system or conversing with Oscar the Friendly Robot, he was meeting the authors of some of his favorite books. He and I ended up spending more time at the convention center than we'd anticipated, but some of the time it was hard to drag him away.

Here are some photos from the convention floor. In this post, I'm focusing on authors.

First, here is Jon Morgan with Jeff Kinney, author and illustrator of the Diary of a Wimpy Kid books. Below that is a shot of a promotional giant snow globe featuring a scene from the upcoming Wimpy Kid book, due out in November.

Next we see Jon Morgan with his other favorite author, Dav Pilkey, who writes the "Captain Underpants" series, including books with such immortal titles as Captain Underpants and the Perilous Plot of Professor Poopypants, not to mention Captain Underpants and the Invasion of the Incredibly Naughty Cafeteria Ladies from Outer Space (and the Subsequent Assault of the Equally Evil Lunchroom Zombie Nerds). Pilkey is also the author of the "Ricky Ricotta" books, the very cute "Dragon" books, and the "Dumb Bunnies" series, among others.

And here are both Jon Morgan and me with author Catherynne Valente, whom I first met last year in Cocoa Beach, Florida, when I sat next to her at the Nebula Awards banquet and watched her win the Nebula for Best Novel. At ALA I finally bought a copy of that Nebula-winning novel, The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Making, and got it autographed. That's me in the purple blouse and Cat in the middle.

Catherine M. Petrini

Who Am I?

I am a published author of 28 books for children and young adults, a former magazine editor, and mom to an 8th-grader. My published works include 20 books for Sweet Valley High and other teen fiction series, all written under pseudonyms. My nonfiction kids' books, written under my own name, are on topics ranging from Dragons to Stonehenge to the Cherokee Indians. In my spare time, I enjoy reading, drawing, photography, traveling, overthrowing the governments of small countries, befriending dragons, slaying demons, and ruining my son's life by making him do his homework.